Elliot Chester Zysman

Hi everybody! Elliot (we just liked the name, though we do like the E.T. connection) Chester (named after Deb's maternal grandfather) was born at 2:38 a.m. on 12/16 (his due date, and my pick in Deb's office's baby pool!), 19 3/4 inches. Deb delivered at home, in a birthing tub, with our amazing midwife Dr. Madeleine Portuondo and doula (and midwife-in-training) Tammy Uva.

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Deb & Dan's Next African Adventure

Dear all,

We would like your help: we are trying to raise $10,000 to build a girls’ high school in rural Kenya, and we’d like your support.

As you all know, we traveled through Kenya for three months last year. Early in our travels, we ended up in Lifunga, in the middle of nowhere in western Kenya. The Kenyan government provides education through the eighth grade only, and the few private high schools for miles around are restricted to boys. Girls, therefore, have no access to educational services after age 14 – even though it would cost less than $250 per student per year to allow these young women to continue their education.

We met many school and community leaders who wanted to start a girls’ high school. So, when we returned to Hawaii, we planned to start our own foundation to raise money for a school. Fortunately, we met Bart Abbott, the Director of Emerging Humanity here in Honolulu. Bart started Emerging Humanity a few years ago to do education and health related work in western Kenya; rather than spend the time and effort to set up our own nonprofit, we decided to team up with Bart.

Bart is actually in Kenya right now, installing toilet, sanitation and water catchment systems in several schools and meeting with community leaders in Lifunga to begin the process to build and run a girls’ high school. We are doing everything possible to ensure that the school is community-based and, long-term, economically self-sufficient

Now, however, we need money to get things going. On the Lifunga Primary School campus, there are already two partially built classrooms; we need approximately $10,000 to build walls, install doors, build desks, and begin purchasing books and supplies for 100 students and their teachers.

We would love whatever you can afford to donate. $20 will pay for books for one student. $30 will build a desk (we need 100 of them!). All donations of $250 or more will be matched by one of Emerging Humanity’s existing donors. Something very small will make a huge difference in the lives of these young women. Your tax deductible donations can be made at http://www.emerginghumanity.com/donate.html (and if you’d prefer to send a check, just let us know).

For those of you who want to receive something in exchange for your donation, read on: we’re trying to think of a creative reward system to encourage donations (for example, a few months ago, Dan got Deb’s dad to do my laundry in exchange for a donation to Roswell Park Cancer Institute). So, in that spirit, perhaps you need someone to do yard work at your house? Or you’d like some homemade chocolate chip cookies? Need a babysitter? Would you like to see photos of Deb & me in drag (from when we went to go see Rocky Horror recently, or, for a higher price, from college)? Seriously, we have no shame. Name your price and we’ll name ours.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

With love and aloha,

Deb & Dan

Hey Blog Readers!

I am playing with some new fund-raising tools for work. Plus the Beautiful Big island is trying to make beaches tobacco-free. I'm helping them to try to get some funds for simple things like signs, buttons and covering gas to get people to the county council meetings.

Every penny counts and of course it is tax deductible so make a contribution today!

February Rain

January was an insane month.

Dan and I both felt like we were being punished for taking a long sabbatical....we've been working nights and weekends and doing not much else other than work, eat and sleep.

Plus, we're dismayed by the violence in Kenya.
A lot of the turmoil and killings are in towns that we spent a lot of time in. We've tried to get in touch with a number of people to see if they are ok, but so far have only heard that one family is all right.

On a happy note. We're getting a new housemate at the end of February. Her name is Sarah and she's an engineer who's moving out from San Fransisco to open a new branch of her company in Honolulu.

Welcome to 2008

After a night of insane fireworks in our neighborhood (it sounded like being in a war-zone), we decided to go to yoga on New Year's morning.

Our studio was holding free classes all day to bring in new people filled with good intentions and New Year's hangovers. Normally our class has about 6 or 7 people. Today there were 26.

And the best part was the guy behind me. I'll paint a picture of him: in his early 50s; loudly chants mantras; does very deep serious breathing; has clearly smoked a bit too much pakalolo and the cherry on top......he did the whole class wearing only a bright blue speedo.

I giggled the whole class.

Hope 2008 bring you lots of dudes in speedos!

New Year's resolutions

It's that time of year again.

My friend Robin and I were talking about creating New Year's resolutions that are actually attainable. Small things, no major personality renovations (cause it never works anyway). Being the public health dorks that we are, we even considered making them "SMART" (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timebound). Oh, yes, we've written a few too many grants.

So, what are your resolutions?

Here's a few I'm considering.
1) No more plastic bags. Zero. I need to figure out what to do with my garbage since I now use the plastic grocery bags-- any suggestions?

2) Take an art class.

3) Every time I go to the beach I will pick up 1 bag of garbage (I guess a paper bag if I'm doing #1). I started this in 2007, but I forgot lots of the time.

4) Take re-useable containers to restaurants (for left overs) and take out places.


Here's a few cool sites to consider as you make your own resolutions.

If you live in Hawaii and want to think of small things to improve the community -- Join Kanu

To reduce the amount of stuff you buy, check out Swaptree -- you get to trade books, music and movies. I just signed up and it seems pretty cool.

The cats and I are moving back into the house tomorrow. Hopefully, the toxic, termite killing fumes will have dissipated.

Fame and Fortune?

Ok.....no fortune.

But how about this for a little end-of-the year fame? http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/24/news/story04.html

Somehow, I made the list even after being out of the country for 6 months. Crazy huh?

For those of you still reading this blog (hi mom). Here is the news from this part of the world.

1) I'm back to battling the powers that be for funding for tobacco control efforts -- some things never change

2) Our house is being tented for termites (preventativly) on Wednesday. This means that they pump the whole house full of toxic chemicals. Which also means that we spent the whole weekend moving plants and food out of the house. Dan is heading to Florida tonight and the cats and I will move out to a friends house for a few days.
I have nightmares about the long term effects of toxic termite killing gases. But if you don't tent here termites can take down a house in about 7.2 seconds.

3) Worms. Dan and I started worm composting since we've come home. They are cool to watch -- like having your own ant farm in the kitchen.
**don't worry the worms are leaving the house for the tenting too.

4) The first box we shipped from our trip finally arrived in Hawaii. The box was sent airmail and was supposed to take 15 days. 8 weeks later it arrived.... Here is a picture so you can see the way we shipped boxes....a miracle anything will make it.




And as a bonus, here is a shot of my adorable nephew Zach helping me cook over Thanksgiving. The kid makes a mean cranberry sauce!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. For all the Jews -- enjoy your Chinese Food and let me know what movies you went to see.

The fun of reality

We are totally back in the thick of things. Some great, some.....just ugh......

Dan started his new job on Monday and already left this morning for a 3 day business trip to Maui and the Big Island. I know...boo hoo...it's rough being Dan.

I'm back at work where there is just a lot of WORK!!!! My desk is already mile high and I haven't even been back a week. Somehow, Kathy, the fabulous interim director who was filling in for me while I was away simply didn't finish all of the crap I left for her to do. Can you believe it?

It has been raining a TON here this week (we are talking flooding, high winds, no power for some people.) But I gotta say, it's still a warm rain and beats the Buffalo snow storm any day of the week.

Lots of people have been asking if I'm somehow "different" since the trip. I don't really think so, but I have noticed one odd phenomenon (and no I don't think it is a weird parasite). Since returning to America, I want to buy everything. I've become this bizarre obsessed consumer. It's like there are so many choices and I've been deprived for so long that I feel like I deserve things. Last year, I bought all my clothes at Goodwill. Last week, I bought a George Foreman Grill..... I mean my Grandma did say that it makes the best sandwiches ever, but the old me would never have purchased such a thing. I need to be stopped.

Maybe it's the glow of the Christmas lights at the mall, but right now I'm seriously shopping for some high-quality speakers for my iPod (anyone like to make a recommendation?)

Home....sort of

We're back in Honolulu.

There's a little bit of post-trip let down, but coming home to sunny Honolulu after the freezing rain of Buffalo is helping to ease the pain. Now it's back to reality: work, a new roof on the house etc.

For the next few weeks, Dan and I are in a weird, gray, re-entry zone. We're back... but our tenants Bob and Nadine are still in our house for a few weeks. We'll be couch surfing with various friends and just get to continue living out of suitcases for a bit longer. We've already run into half the population of Honolulu and it feels like we never left. Yesterday, I got a much needed haircut and went to my favorite Korean spa with my friend Robin --- we both got these full body scrubs and you would be appalled if you saw how much filth came out of my pores.

Dan has big news that he is now able to announce. On Monday (yup, tomorrow) he is starting a new job as the Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU. He wasn't really planning to leave the the law firm, but the ACLU here is pretty small and job openings are rare.

We've had a great time writing the blog and we're trying to decide if blogging about "normal life" would be nearly as much fun (or remotely interesting to read). So....stay tuned for the next adventure and thanks for reading about our travels!

God Bless the USA

We made it safely home with a minimum of problems. Our flight from Delhi was late so we missed our connection to Buffalo. Thankfully, we had passes to the President's Club, so we spent our 6 hours in Newark gorging on free bagels and cheese.

Then we got to Buffalo and and we've been spending all our time "living on the edge" drinking tap water and eating raw cookie dough. Yup, we're back to the good life.

As promised, here are a few photos from our last week in India.

These are a few from Khajuraho -- these carvings are all from around 950AD:
Here is a disco version of Ganesh

While Khajuraho is famous for the erotic carvings, the majority are of people and gods and are pretty PG rated. Lots, like this one are of dancing girls.



Here are some of the infamous ones...




The Palace in Orchha


Here is the happy wedding couple in Orchha

Rock Hard Porn

Sorry it's been such a long time since our last post. We left the land of yoga (and no we didn't swim in the Ganges) and headed to Orchha and Kajuraho. We were back in the mood for temples, forts and palaces and these are some of the most spectacular in India.

Kajuraho is infamous for the carvings of erotica.....and come on, how could I come to India and NOT see ancient porn? You know you would if you were here!

The temples are spectacular. I promise to post a few pictures when we are back in the states.

In Orchha we went to our first Indian/Irish wedding. We were shopping in a bangle shop when a white woman came in and started talking with the owner. Over a cup of chai we learned that Denise -- the Irish woman -- had just married Loyal -- the Indian guy. Anyway, long story short, their wedding party was a few days later and we rangled ourselves an invitation. Not really a traditional Indian wedding by any stretch of the imagination, but we had a good time!

Now we are back in Delhi for a few days of last minute shopping. We head back to the good ol' U.S. of A. tomorrow evening so that we can eat some cranberries and stuffing with the family.

Dan and I are still in a bit of denial that we are at the END of our trip!
We'll do a few more posts from Buffalo with a whole bunch of pictures....so stay tuned for more blogging.

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali!

Diwali appears to be every Indian's favorite holiday. It seems like Christmas, New Years and your birthday rolled into one. For the Hindus, Diwali celebrates the homecoming of King Rama after 14 years in exile. It is also celebrates the time when Krishna defeated a demon. Everyone here decorates their home with twinkle lights, small oil lamps, candles and a fresh coat of paint. Rishikesh is filled with women in their finest saris, sporting glittery new jewlery and carrying boxes of sweets for everyone they know.

We are still in Rishikesh, and we've been doing some serious relaxation in this beautiful town. We've done a bunch of different yoga classes (Mary's class at Open Space in Honolulu are still the best we've found however.) We are spending the rest of our days shopping, getting kick-ass massages and reading by the Ganges.

Neither of us has been brave enough to go for a swim in the Ganges yet.... The river is MUCH cleaner here than in Varanasi, but I'm still worried that "swimming in the Ganges" = "Bacterial Infection."

Here's a photo of the Ganges. Would you go for a dip?



Last night, for Diwali, everyone was lighting candles and setting bowls of flowers adrift on the river.

To join in the festivities we set off some fireworks on our balcony and Mara, Klara and I all got new henna on our hands.



P.S. Since Dan's run-in with the monkey, he hasn't been taking any chances. He's adopted Hannuman (the Hindu Monkey God) as his new best friend. In this photo we were pretending to be Hannuman....just thought you'd like to see a silly one.

Mom & Dad Return to America

Dad writing-

We left Deb and Dan so they could recover from our hectic days and headed to Kerala, a State in Southern India. for several days. We have since left India and are now home trying to adjust to the cold weather and gloomy skies.

I want to provide several comments. First, thanks to Deb and Dan for playing tour guide. We owe you! Second, thanks for trying to keep up with us. Lastly, thanks for putting up with us.

When we arrived in Delhi, it was a really rude awakening. People every where; cows, dogs, goats and pigs roaming the streets. No cats, since cats that cross your path are bad luck. They are a very superstitious people. I was told that they take the cats into the woods. Also strong obnoxious odors! Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, buses and people all trying to maneuver on the road. Below is a typical street in the city. See all the food for the cows and goats. There is plenty more! The biggest problem is plastic bags and bottles. These animals don't eat them.

Early in a.m. pic from our hotel in Delhi.

I did notice that there must be few building codes that are followed.

Wires crossing everywhere.

We went to a Sikh temple in New Delhi. They feed lots of people for free. People volunteer to make sure there is food for everyone. Here we are making chipote. I'm sure Daniel will be making these when he returns to Hawaii.

Sweating while making chipote.

Sweating while eating Tali. (not at the Sikh temple). Hmmm, delicious!

Look ma, no utensils!

Ready for more excitement

We often used the auto-rickshaw for transportation over short distances (1-5km).

Deb would like to be transported in one of these. Dan needs to find another job to support her in the manner she would like to become accustomed to.

Typical street scene. This is in New Delhi.

There are many small shops in the various cities. Each has a specialty. This one sells clothe. The fancy silks are really worth seeing. When you enter most shops, you remove your shoes. I wore sandals everyday.

And another street in Bundi. Auto-rickshaw, bicycle, donkey and people. All moving around without crashing into each other.

From Delhi, we took a train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We had reservation for an air conditioned car, nice! Passenger trains are a common mode of transportation. You should have a reservation for the AC or sleeper cars. We also took an overnight train from Agra to Bundi. Just our luck, our car had the smelliest toilet. Every time we stopped at a station, the obnoxious odor penetrated into the car. The other trains we took were during the day.

Below are pictures of us at the Taj.

Bernie & Sharon at the Taj

Sunrise at the Taj

D&D at the Taj at Sunrise

We headed to the fort near the Taj, and saw many monkeys. Better stay away from them if you have food.

"Goldsmith's" parade, Bundi

Holy cow, batman. Watch where you are going!

As Deb said, we celebrated Sharon's birthday at Jodhpur. It started out with a typical breakfast of masala eggs, juice, toast, fruit, etc. And a birthday cake. We sang Happy Birthday. We were really not hungry, so Sharon cut the cake and we decided to eat it with lunch. Lunch was after our jeep ride.

After eating the B-day cake we sat around and chatted before going out.

Note the fledgling.

Sharon and I left Deb and Dan in Jodhpur and headed south to Allepey. Allepey, the Venice of India, is in the State of Kerala. We flew to Mumbai then hired a taxi to Allepey. Our plane which was suppose to leave Jodhpur at 2pm was late. We got to Allepey around 11pm, which was about 1-hour later than we thought. Below are pictures from Allepey. Note all the plants. It rained a bit every day. It was also around 90F and humid.

This is where we stayed for 2-nights.

We stayed on a house boat (not this one) for one night.

This is a typical houseboat.

Rice patty

Rice being shipped for processing

People travel by boat. This is a boat stop

And, I was able to skipper our house boat!

The White Album

We're in Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world. It's where the Beatles came to get away from the press, meet the Maharishi, and write most of the songs on the White Album.

Now, Rishikesh is full of Israelis. The upside is that we can get pretty good falafel. The downside, as you might expect, is a town full of stoned Jews.

The other great part of Rishikesh is that we've reconnected with Mara and Klara -- our Mukti co-fans from Darjeeling/Sikkim. Klara was in the hospital in Agra for six days. Six days. The doctors there said it had something to do with her gall bladder. In theory, she should have surgery. Instead, she and Mara are going to Thailand next week. Why ruin a perfectly good trip by worrying about your gall bladder? I mean, what does your gall bladder do, anyway? I think it's like your appendix -- totally useless.

Diwali begins tonight, so we're heading out to watch fireworks. We'll try not to lose a hand or food in the explosive mayhem.

And then there were two...

Sharon and Bernie have just left us, and after 11 days of whirlwind touring, we're ready for a vacation. And some heavy drinking.

We had a fabulous time with FB and Sharon, but we're tired from going at a much faster pace than we normally do. Deb and I usually try to do about one thing a day (e.g., seeing a fort, going to a market, or napping -- any one of those things would normally constitute a full day). But not with Sharon and Bernie. Oh no. We sometimes saw two or three things a day. Did you hear that? Two or three things every day!!! Plus we ate up to three meals every single day. Can you believe it?

As Bernie mentioned, we've been touring Rajasthan, which is known for it's forts and palaces (and places called "toilets"). They are spectacular buildings that have been turned into museums and hotels since India became a united country. Here's a few photos

This is the fort in Jodhpur:

Here is the palace/fort in Udaipur:

The roof top of our hotel in Udaipur

Sharon on a camel.

For Sharon's birthday we went on a village jeep safari. Bernie LOVES jeeps (almost as much as motorcycles), so everyone thought this was a great plan. We stopped in various villages in the desert and watched them make crafts.

In one, we learned how they make pottery and then got to try it:

Here is what Deb made:
Here is Bernie's creation:


And here is mine -- I think I'll keep my day job.

In another, we watched them making phenomenal rugs. So nice, that we were swayed to buy one each--- they claim that Prince Charles bought a rug from them, and if it's good enough for royalty, it's good enough for us, damn it!

The high point of the tour (pun intended) was participating in a traditional opium ceremony.

This is the guy making our opium.

After the opium look how happy everyone is!!!!

Sharon and Bernie have headed south to the backwaters of Kerela. We are heading back north to the mountains to Haridwar/Rishikesh.